A region in transition : politics and power in the Pacific Island Countries

Abstract

Around one third of the Earth’s surface is covered by the Pacific Ocean. When looking at “the“ Pacific, public and scientific discourse – especially in Europe - is mostly centered on the periphery of this ocean, which includes important actors like Australia, the USA, Russia, China, Japan as well as the booming Asian and Latin-American states. This ignores that the Pacific itself is not only covered by water, but is also a political space in the sense of different political units summarized in the term of Pacific Island Countries (PICs). In fact, the Pacific Islands Region has been one of the politically most dynamic regions of the world in the last decade and even more so today. There are ongoing transformations to regionalism and the regional system of cooperation, in national politics and in the relationships to larger actors as well as the international activities of the Pacific Island States. This book brings together renowned international experts on politics in Oceania as well as researchers and scholars from Germany to provide a comprehensive overview of many of these current developments and issues in the Pacific Islands Region. It offers a theoretical framework as well as contributions analysing actors, institutions and structures in Oceania, substantiated by case studies from various island states.